Especially after Ellis hit one long-range shot. Then another. And another.

Ellis dominated the final period and led the Milwaukee Bucks back from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to shock the Magic 115-109 at Bradley Center.

"It shows you that the game's not over until there's zeros on that clock," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. "So our focus and intensity has to be the same throughout. This is a tough one."

In a season full of losses, this defeat hurt more than most. The Magic controlled the Bucks most of the afternoon, only to see a chance at a rare victory slip away.

Ellis scored 25 points in the fourth quarter — the most by any NBA player in a fourth quarter this season — and finished with 39 points.

"It was just going in," Ellis said. "It was just one of them days where you feel it. The crowd got into it, and my teammates had faith in me to give me the ball at the time, and I was able to knock the shots down."

But how did Ellis accomplish what he accomplished?

Magic defenders fully contested only four of his eight fourth-quarter baskets.

Ellis' first 3-pointer of the quarter occurred shortly after Arron Afflalo made an acrobatic layup that left Afflalo sprawled on the floor underneath the backboard. The Bucks' ensuing 5-on-4 advantage left Ellis wide open in the left corner because Jameer Nelson had to leave Ellis to defend Brandon Jennings.

Ellis made his second 3-pointer of the period with the Bucks down by nine points. Ekpe Udoh screened Afflalo, and Afflalo didn't maneuver around the screen well enough while Tobias Harris didn't collapse quickly enough onto Ellis. That gave Ellis a wide-open jumper from the top of the arc.

Ellis made another basket on a dunk in transition.

Another 3-pointer, which cut Orlando's lead to 104-102, was partially contested. Ersan Ilyasova screened Ellis' defender, Afflalo, and Afflalo went with Ilyasova as Ilyasova rolled to the hoop.

That left Harris defending Ellis one-on-one. Harris gave Ellis room in order to prevent a drive to the hoop, and Ellis unleashed a jumper from the top of the arc before Harris could react fully.

Harris had reason to guard against a drive instead of a 3-pointer. Although Ellis is a good scorer, he had been an awful 3-point shooter this season, making only 24 percent of his attempts before Sunday.

In the Magic's postgame locker room, a reporter prefaced a question to Harris by saying Harris must've seen Ellis dominate a game like that before when they were teammates.

"Not that many 3s," Harris responded. "But he was hot."

For three quarters, the Magic played one of their better games of recent weeks. They limited the Bucks to 37 percent shooting and outscored the Bucks in the paint 48-20.

Rookie Maurice Harkless was on his way to scoring a career-high 23 points.

"You've got the game in your hands, and you let it go," Nelson said. "We've just got to go out there and play harder and try to play the way we had been playing in the first three quarters in that fourth quarter. We didn't stay consistent."

Redick played just 23 minutes, and he finished with four points on 1-of-5 shooting.

But he played the entire fourth quarter, and because of his track record as a long-range shooter, the Magic had to account for him on defense.

That, in turn, helped prevent the Magic from double-teaming Ellis.

"It wasn't weird playing against those guys," Redick said. "Much respect for the way they compete."

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.